animals

When You’re Up Way Too Early

I would definitely consider myself a morning person, but 3:30 is a bit too early for me. Sadie, Niva, and I are spending the night at my parents’ house and little miss Niva decided to run around the house like a wild banshee this morning. I couldn’t fall back asleep, so here I am 🙂

Jimmy has been away on a trip to the Creation Museum with our church this week (I wasn’t brave enough to bring a toddler, so I held down the fort with Sadie) and I’ve been missing him a whole bunch. Sadie and I have enjoyed the quality time together, though!

Mom and toddler with masks on

We went to one of our local libraries the other day and it was glorious. Something about books and the quietness of a library just fills me with joy. I think Sadie likes it, too. We read a few books together, played, and left feeling very happy.

I’m pretty sure I made the same face as Sadie below when I got to see all the books.

Toddler on library steps in Carnegie Pittsburgh Library

I ended up checking out Lulu’s Cafe by T.I. Lowe and have been plowing through it each night when Sadie goes to bed. I also requested Little Women because it has been way too long since I last read that classic! Sadie brought home a Biscuit book and a book about gardening.

On Wednesday night, I was the teacher for the toddler class at our church, and Sadie was my only student. We had fun coloring and learning about the letter C, for Cornelius!

Mom and toddler at church

I’ve been doing lots of snuggling with Niva and Malcolm.

Jimmy snapped this photo before he left. I was happy because Jimmy and I always joke that whichever pet lays with one of us on the couch in the evenings likes us more, lol. Malcolm usually sits with me and Niva snuggles up to Jimmy but I guess they thought I needed the extra love?!

Girl with cat and husky laying with her

My mom figured out that Sadie likes Uncrustables sandwiches. I’m going to have to pick some up for my house because I have a hard time getting her to eat much of anything.

Seeing Sadie chow down on one of my favorite combos of peanut butter and jelly made my heart happy!

Toddler eating Smucker's Uncrustables

My mom and I took Sadie shopping yesterday and that was an interesting experience. It involved a bottle of glass cleaner spilling all over the floor, haha.

She had fun running around the parking lot in her new daisy skirt that I got off of Facebook Marketplace. Craigslist and Facebook Marketplace are downright dangerous for me! I want to buy everything, lol.

Toddler running through parking lot in black and yellow daisy skirt

I also filmed a vlog of our day together on Thursday since it had been a while since I last vlogged!

Are you a morning person or a night owl?

What’s your favorite type of sandwich?

Are you a fan of Craigslist or Facebook Marketplace?

Four Monday Thoughts: Goats, Gardening, Reading, and Matching

It’s the first Monday in August. It feels like a fresh slate for the last full month of summer! Some goals I have for this month:

-Choose a book, topic, or person for my personal Bible study time
-Go on a picnic as a family or go to the Pittsburgh Zoo
-Go through Sadie’s homeschool items + plan when we will start
-Organize our linen closet and bathroom vanity
-Use the sewing machine Jimmy’s aunt gave me

Okay, onto four things I’m thinking about today.

1. Gardening. I’ve been loving not having to buy much produce at the store lately. Our garden is a squash growing machine at the moment, so I roasted a big batch of zucchini and tomatoes yesterday.

Zucchini and tomatoes to bake in oven from vegetable garden

I just slice everything up, coat it in olive oil and spices, and roast at 400 degrees until it’s browned and cooked through.

2. Fun for Sadie. While I was cooking yesterday afternoon, Sadie spent time at my aunt and uncle’s house! They have goats, cows, pigs, chickens, and all sorts of animals, plus lots of land to run around on. I’d love to have a few farm animals and land one day, too.

Kids petting goats

I’m hoping all that excitement and fun she had yesterday leads to her sleeping in this morning 😉

3. Matching. I tried to match with Sadie on Sunday morning for church. We went with the yellow dress theme, lol. Yellow is my absolute favorite color. It’s just so happy and bright 🙂

Mom and toddler wearing yellow dresses

4. Reading. I just finished up The Story of My Life by Helen Keller and was so impressed. I was always awed by how she overcame incredible limitations as she grew up, but was even more wowed that she wrote that book in her 20s, was so tenacious, curious, hard working, and had zero self-pity. Up next, I’m going to be reading this memoir.

What’s the best book you’ve read lately?

Would you rather live in a rural area or city?

What’s your favorite color?